Tara Strong
Tara Lyn Strong (née Charendoff; born February 12, 1973) is a Canadian actress, voice actress, and singer, who is best known for her voice work in cartoons. In Phineas and Ferb, she voices the bird in the episode "Interview With a Platypus". She also voices Timmy Turner & Poof from The Fairly OddParents, Melody from The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, and Dawn in The Buzz on Maggie. She is also well known for voicing Raven in Teen Titans and Twilight Sparkle in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Early life and career Tara Lyn Charendoff was born on February 12, 1973 to Jewish-Canadian parents who ran a convenience/toy/candy store called The Wiz, and was raised in Toronto, Ontario. Strong's acting career began when she volunteered to be a soloist in the school production at age four. Soon, she began acting in the Yiddish Theater; though she did not know Yiddish, she memorized her lines phonetically. During this time, she also performed at the Toronto Jewish Theater (TJA), where she acted in A Night of Stars, and was featured in an audiotape for "Lay Down Your Arms" with the Habonim Youth Choir, where she sang the lyrics in both English and Hebrew, a feat she repeated on February 10, 2005, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel during the March of the Living dinner in honor of Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger. At age 13, Strong was accepted into a performing arts school, where she landed her first professional role: the role of Gracie in the Limelight Theater's production of The Music Man. That same year, she booked a guest starring role in Mr. T's T. and T. Afterwards, she landed the Title role in Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater and starred in the short-lived CBC Television Sitcom Mosquito Lake before moving to Los Angeles in the midst of the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Strong is the voice behind a multitude of North American animated characters, including main roles in The New Batman Adventures as Batgirl; Fillmore! as Ingrid Third; Rugrats and All Grown Up! as Dil Pickles; The Powerpuff Girls as Bubbles; Ben 10 as Ben Tennyson, Upgrade, Benwolf, and Buzzshock; The Fairly OddParents as Timmy Turner and Poof; Xiaolin Showdown as Omi; Teen Titans as Raven; Drawn Together as Princess Clara and Toot Braunstein; The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World as Hip/Lemmy and Hop/Iggy Koopa; Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends as Terrence; Transformers Animated as Sari Sumdac, Slipstream, Slo-Mo, Strika, Red Alert, Mayor Edsel's press secretary, and additional voices; Sym-Bionic Titan as Ilana Lunas; Chowder as Truffles; the singing voice of Meg Griffin and additional voices on Family Guy; 101 Dalmatians: The Series as Spot/Two-Tone; My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic as Twilight Sparkle; and currently voices Betty Boop in commercials with Tress MacNeille. She has also lent her voice to English-language localizations of Japanese anime such as Spirited Away, Sailor Moon, Shaman King, and Princess Mononoke, as well as several video games, including her work as Elisa and Ursula in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops; Paz Ortega Andrade in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker; Seth Balmore in Lost Odyssey; Rikku in Final Fantasy X, it's sequel Final Fantasy X-2, and Kingdom Hearts II; Norma Beatty in Tales of Legendia; Talwyn Apogee in Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction and it's sequel, Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty (both of which reunite her with her Final Fantasy X/''Drawn Together'' co-star James Arnold Taylor) and Harley Quinn replacing Arleen Sorkin in Batman: Arkham City. Numerous sources have stated that she also voiced Bowser Jr. in Super Mario Sunshine and went uncredited for the role. She has appeared in live roles in National Lampoon's Senior Trip, Sabrina Goes to Rome, Sabrina, Down Under, Mosquito Lake, and The Last White Dishwasher. She also made guest appearances on such shows as Forever Knight, Street Legal, Touched by an Angel, Take Home Chef, Party of Five, Comic Book: The Movie, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, and 3rd Rock from the Sun. She has the role of the character Miss Collins in Nickelodeon's live action series Big Time Rush. Strong has been nominated four times for an Annie Award, and once for a Daytime Emmy and she will voice Roxy of Winx Club, which will be broadcast on Nickelodeon. In 2004, she won an Interactive Achievement Award for her role as Rikku in Final Fantasy X-2. She also served as the announcer for the 2000 Kids' Choice Awards, appeared as a guest at several fan conventions (including BotCon, Jacon, Comic-Con International, and Anime Overdose), and was featured on the front cover of the July/August 2004 issue of Working Mother magazine, saying, "My son is now old enough to respond to my work. To me, that's what it is all about." Notable roles *Ben Tennyson from Ben 10 *Several characters in Transformers: Animated, including Sari Sumdac *Rikku in Final Fantasy X and X-2 *Bubbles in The Powerpuff Girls *Raven in Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go *Truffles in Chowder *Hip and Hop Koopa in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World *Twilight Sparkle in My Little Pony Friendship is Magic *Timmy Turner in The Fairly Odd Parents *Dill Pickles in Rugrats *Twinkles in "Rick and Morty" References External links * * *Tara Strong at Anime News Network * * * *Talkin' Toons with Rob Paulsen *Tara Strong fanlisting Category:Actors Category:T